ABSTRACT
Graves scattered across the site in post-Mycenaean times suggest that during the sub-Mycenaean and Protogeometric periods this location was home to a community consisting of a small number of families, perhaps as few as three or four in number. Apart from Olympia, Elis and Eleian Pylos are the only two sites in the region which have been extensively excavated, so the community located beside the Peneios need not have been the only political entity of the Eleians issuing such decrees at the time. In order to determine the extent to which an abundance of settlements existed in greater Eleia during the period before the synoikism of 471 BC, we need to consider both archaeological discoveries and ancient literary sources. The unlocated community of Khaladrians appears in early fifth-century inscription in Eleian dialect from Olympia, so it most likely existed during archaic period. The physical means by which communication was carried out between Dodona and the three African sanctuaries requires investigation.
